Indian Investigators Bust Global WhatsApp-Based Child Porn Racket

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has busted a child pornography racket that was WhatsApp based and included 119 members from 11 countries. The investigation agency is planning to write to authorities of the countries whose nationals were found involved in the racket.

The group involved citizens from the United States, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, Mexico and New Zealand, according to reports.

The CBI has arrested the group administrator Nikhil Verma, a resident of Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. He is an unemployed B.Com graduate aged 20 years. He will be brought to Delhi on transit remand.

The other administrators of the WhatsApp group called “Kids-XXX” were said to be Satyendra Chauhan, a resident of Mumbai; Nafis Raza and Zahid, both residents of Delhi; and Adarsh of Noida.

The investigating agency is searching the premises of the suspects and is trying to determine if the accused were charging money for sharing the pornographic material, according to the Hindu.

The group has been active for two years. During their search, the CBI recovered mobile phones, laptops, and hard discs and other digital devices. The investigation had been going on for three months with the help of field intelligence and monitoring of mobile locations and IP addresses of the computers being handled by the accused.

The CBI conducted thorough background checks and behavioral analysis before arresting the accused. The agency is also investigating if an organized gang shoots and uploads the videos of child abuse.

In India, accessing, producing, recording, uploading or circulating child abuse videos or picture are serious offenses under Information Technology Act and attract a punishment up to seven years and a fine of Rs 10 lakh.

A case under section 67-B of the Information Technology Act and under the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) was registered. “We found mobile phones, tablets and laptops containing incriminating material depicting children in obscene, indecent and sexually explicit acts,” said CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal, according to Times of India.